The Debutante Ball Welcomes Jennifer Gooch Hummer!

Jennifer Gooch Hummer has worked as a script analyst for various talent agencies and major film studios. Her short stories have been published in Miranda Magazine, Our Stories and Glimmertrain. She received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Kenyon College and continued graduate studies in the Writer’s Program at UCLA, where she was nominated for the Kirkwood Prize in fiction. Currently, Jennifer lives in Southern California and Maine with her husband and their three daughters.

A little about Girl Unmoored:

Apron Bramhall has come unmoored. It’s 1985 and her mom has passed away, her evil stepmother is pregnant, and her best friend has traded her in for a newer model. Fortunately, she’s about to be saved by Jesus. Not that Jesus—the actor who plays him in Jesus Christ, Superstar. Apron tries to avoid the look-alike Mike (no one should look that much like Jesus unless they can perform a miracle or two),but suddenly he’s everywhere and one day she finds herself stuck in church with him. Then a strange thing happens; Apron’s broken teenage heart blinks on for the first time since she’s been adrift. Turns out Mike might be able to create a few miracles after all.

And here are just a few of the nice things being said about it:

“Love, loss, and the coming of age of one remarkable girl blaze through this haunting debut like a shooting star you’d wish upon. It’s tough and tender, funny and smart, and it frankly took my breath away. I loved it.”
–– Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You

“With stunning emotional honesty, Girl Unmoored shaves away layers of innocence to reveal the true meaning of love… Effortlessly funny and poignant, Jennifer Gooch Hummer’s masterful debut offers surprises until the very end – a must-read!”
— Elise Allen, New York Times bestselling co-author of Elixir and author of Populazzi

“This book sneaks up on you. One moment you’re laughing at the quick wit and the next you can’t swallow down the lump in your throat. An intimate story of the entanglement of love and loss, Girl Unmoored breaks through the wall around your heart, giving it room to expand.”
— Susan Henderson, bestselling author of Up from the Blue

“From the shadows of loss and uncertainty to the ultimate act of forgiveness, Girl Unmoored is a uniquely rendered and quirky coming-of-age tale that will break your heart one minute and have you laughing out loud the next.”
— Beth Hoffman, New York Times bestselling author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

Jennifer has agreed to be grilled interviewed by the Debs today!

Where do you love to be?

I love to be in Paris. I studied at the Sorbonne my junior year in college and I know Paris better than Los Angeles. Fortunately, my husband is a sports broadcaster and covers the Tour de France, so I have been able to take a week-long sojourn in France for the past five summers. Next year, my 16 year old is going to France on a school trip. (I’ve secretly signed up as a chaperone.)

Which talent do you wish you had?

I wish I could do all things art. My mother is this totally amazing artist so I grew up playing with her acrylics and brushes, making ceramics, and developing photos in her dark room. A dark room! My kids don’t even know what a dark room is. Which is too bad because it was always so amazing to watch the photos come to life inside those little trays of different solutions. I love everything about digital photos, but the dark room was a really magical place.

What time of day do you love best?

Morning, when it’s still dark. I’m up at 5 a.m. to swim on a Master’s swim team every weekday morning. I love that no one else is awake yet to impede my carefully designed and slightly uptight ritual. Then, at 7 a.m., still soaking wet, I sprint from the pool to the car to call my youngest daughter. I pay her two dollars a day to wake her teenage sisters up before I get home. It’s a dangerous job. I stay on the phone with her and I’ve had to tell her to abort mission a few times. You never know what’s in arms reach of a half-awake hormonal teenager. My daughter wore her bike helmet once, which got me thinking maybe I should get her a suit of armor.

Share one quirk you have that most people don’t know about.

I can’t get enough of the Sharpie smell. I also love the smell of gas, most glues, bleach, and anything else that probably eats your brain cells out. It’s terrible, I know. And that Sharpie smell lingers! Sometimes I use a really thick one to write a fake message on a sticky note and keep it in the kitchen. When anyone asks what that weird smell is, I pretend I can’t smell a thing.

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